Professional Development

Teaching Excellence Academy

Professional Development Workshops

Carnegie Science Center’s Teaching Excellence Academy has a wide variety of workshops to help you enhance your STEM instruction. The Teaching Excellence Academy offers engaging opportunities for educators in all grade levels at your location, with Act 48 credit provided upon successful completion of each workshop.

Now available - There are workshops being delivered on-site at Carnegie Science Center. Registration information available below

Best Practices in STEM Education Series

Building Your PBL Classroom

K-12 teachers | 3-hour workshop | Up to 30 participants

Inspire and excite your students about STEM through project-based learning (PBL) regardless of your content area. Use your expertise to develop STEM projects that address real-world problems and require students to be engaged. Project resources, group work strategies, and collaborative opportunities also are included.

On-site workshop available!
Sat., Jan. 12, 2019 from 9am-12pm

Members get discount rates on select programs!Non-members can add programs to your cart and buy a membership at checkout!

Learning Through Inquiry

K-12 teachers | 3-hour workshop | Up to 30 participants

Do you want to make your class more inquiry-focused? Transitioning a traditional classroom to one that is more question centered does not require a total curriculum rewrite. Learn simple classroom strategies to turn traditional lessons and activities into those driven by student curiosity and give kids the opportunity to practice and develop their STEM skills.

On-site workshop available!
Sat., Jan. 26, 2019 from 9am-12pm

Members get discount rates on select programs!Non-members can add programs to your cart and buy a membership at checkout!

The Next Step in STEM

K-12 teachers | 3-hour workshop | Up to 30 participants

Participate in an action-oriented workshop that will have you collaboratively planning for the implementation of your STEM education program. This workshop employs strategic methods such as stakeholder mapping and directed brainstorming. Through guided group discussion and visualization, set your school on a successful track with the Carnegie STEM Excellence Pathway.

What is STEM

Learn how to integrate STEM best practices into any classroom. We’ll discuss factors that make for a collaborative STEM learning environment and resource materials and curriculum tools that incorporate STEM into multiple subject areas. Develop STEM buy-in with fellow stakeholders with our proven strategies.

Early Learner Series

Hello Robo: Early STEM Robotics

PreK-2nd-grade teachers | 3-hour workshop |
Up to 30 participants

Robots provide unseen services in industries such as transportation, medical, and manufacturing industries. Early learners need the foundational STEM skills that allow them to imagine and build the robots of the future. Use resources from NAEYC and other STEM experts to examine developmentally appropriate concepts to prepare your students for robotics technologies. Discover hands-on, standards-aligned activities you can do right away, even if you don’t have a robot (yet!).

On-site workshop available!
Sat., April 6, 2019 from 9am-12pm

Members get discount rates on select programs!Non-members can add programs to your cart and buy a membership at checkout!

On a Roll: Early Engineering with STEM

PreK-2nd-grade teachers | 3-hour workshop |
Up to 30 participants

Use easily accessible materials to explore the engineering processes (“E” in STEM) that make building marvels such as bridges, inclines, and mass transportation systems. Re-energize your use of physics standards, and uncover new methods of STEM engagement. Use resources from NAEYC and evidence from classroom-tested activities to design a four-week investigation into ramps to complement curriculum units on transportation and neighborhoods.

Project-based Learning in Early Years

PreK-2nd-grade teachers | 3-hour workshop |
Up to 30 participants

When early learners engage in the project approach, their learning spans multiple domains and standards, including STEM. Discover the phases of project-based learning (PBL) for young children, from choosing a topic to sharing your findings. Guided by case studies, evaluate multiple approaches, and collaboratively build a project plan that maximizes STEM engagement.

Elementary Coding and Making

Grade 1-5 teachers | 6-hour workshop |
Up to 15 participants

Digital fabrication technologies make computer programming physically engaging! Learn Scratch and Sphero’s drag and drop coding. Use the MaKey MaKey invention kit, vinyl cutter, and laser cutter to complete hands-on projects that you can use to reinforce computational thinking skills learned in coding.

Introduction to STEM Making

K-12 teachers | 6-hour workshop | Up to 15 participants

Digital fabrication integrates STEM competencies into authentic making experiences for all learners. With digital fabrication technologies, such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC machines, students can learn essential skills while creatively designing projects. Discover the basics with hands-on projects and explore ways of integrating digital fabrication into curriculum.

On-site workshop available!
Sat., Feb. 23, 2019 from 9am-3pm

Members get discount rates on select programs!Non-members can add programs to your cart and buy a membership at checkout!

Making a Fab Lab

K-12 teachers | 6-hour workshop | Up to 15 participants

Utilize our Mobile Fab Lab or host this workshop at your location. For schools that are considering a digital fabrication makerspace, this is an all-inclusive workshop. Create hands-on projects using the 3D printer, laser cutter/engraver, and vinyl cutter, and share best practices. Discuss technology recommendations, budget, managing challenges, maker space facilitation techniques, and integrating making into the curriculum. Staff will share resources and answer questions.

Quadcopter Challenge for MS-HS

MS and HS teachers | 6-hour workshop |
Up to 15 participants

Get your middle and high school students excited about electronics, soldering, and the engineering design cycle by teaching them to make their own palm-sized, remote-controlled quadcopters! Learn to design, prototype, and redesign quadcopters using a laser cutter or CNC router. Wrap up with discussion, share classroom strategies, and leave with a lesson plan, classroom presentation material, a parts list, and your own quadcopter.

On-site workshop available!
Sat., March 16, 2019 from 9am-3pm

Members get discount rates on select programs!Non-members can add programs to your cart and buy a membership at checkout!

Create & Integrate – STEM!

K-12 teachers | 3 or 6-hour workshop

Classes in schools have long been segregated into “silos” - Math class, Science class, English class, etc. There are few connections between these silos and teachers often don’t have the time nor energy to explore how these silos can be brought closer together. This workshop aims to solve this issue. Through a half or full day workshop, participants will brainstorm potential avenues for subject integration and create up to three integrated lessons that can be used upon leaving the workshop.

STEM Up Your Science

K-6 teachers | 3-hour workshop

Are you looking for a way to engage your elementary students with hands-on STEM activities? Start with three hands-on activities that explore science and engineering and spark your students’ creativity. Designed for nonscience specialists, this workshop includes time to brainstorm and share experiences related to your classroom’s specific needs.

Teaching Content through Game Design

K-12 teachers | 3-hour workshop

Learn how to create and use board games in your curriculum. Custom-created games can be a valuable instructional tool for teachers and the game creation process can aid the development of your students’ STEM competencies. You will create a content-focused game for use in your classroom.

3/4/2017 to 10/18/2019

On-site workshop available!
Sat., Feb. 9, 2019 from 9am-12pm

Members get discount rates on select programs!Non-members can add programs to your cart and buy a membership at checkout!